


a cup of half and half

by johnshuaa



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life, but so is mark rip, but they find time for each other always, donghyuck is STRESSED, wizard!hyuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-06-24 04:24:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19716154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnshuaa/pseuds/johnshuaa
Summary: Donghyuck is half-wizard and half-human, juggling college and magic school, as well as an overworked boyfriend.





	a cup of half and half

**Author's Note:**

> Enrara prompt N-210
> 
> So this didn’t end up going as I planned it to (as in: idk where the plot part went) so it’s more slice of life than anything. Sorry I kinda slaughtered the prompt, but I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (also why do I always name fics after food when I run out of titles I am unsure)

The cauldron in front of Donghyuck glows a bright blue, and if he hadn’t gone to human preschool and learned his primary colors, he’s sure he wouldn’t have noticed how dramatically different it was to the drawing right in from of him that was clearly a neon pink. 

Donghyuck glances nervously between the steaming liquid and the list of ingredients on the parchment in front of him, trying to match the ingredients he had measured out exactly to the list. It should be right. He’s followed every instruction perfectly. So why isn’t the stupid regeneration potion the correct color?

He looks to the right, where there lies a tiny bottle of ground up rose petals. A pinch would be all it takes to turn the potion purple, and a bit more _could_ change the potion to its correct color completely. Maybe the professor would grade by looks instead of the actual components of the potion today?

Next to him, Yangyang also glances at the bottle lying between their stations. One quick swipe of the hand would be all it takes, and Donghyuck desperately needs a good score on this lab. 

(He really doesn’t. Potions has always been the easiest subject for him, until now.)

But Yangyang takes it first. He grabs it quickly, and hides it behind his cauldron, away from the professor. Donghyuck almost sighs in relief that he couldn’t give in to his temptation. 

He decides to trust his gut and continues stirring his potion for the final minute. It bubbles almost threateningly at him. 

Professor Taeyong strolls by, hands clasped behind his back as he administers his students, glancing along the lines of cauldrons. His face stays rather impassive, eyes cold as he looks at each of the potions. Most of them are a variant shade of pink, similar but not exactly like the picture. It worries Donghyuck, as he compares his own slightly lighter blue liquid to Renjun’s, which is a deep magenta.

“Are you sure this recipe is right?” Donghyuck asks. He grabs Renjun’s paper and runs a finger down the list. “Why is ours different?”

Renjun just shrugs. “Dunno. I suck at potions. I could care less.”

Donghyuck sighs. He removes the ladle from the potion and watches the liquid continue to swirl like a vortex, absolutely defeated. 

He hates it. Having to attend the University of Seoul during the day, then moonlighting to Seoul’s Institution of Magic by night. When he finally graduated high school, he thought sleep would come to him easier, when he didn’t have to take a hundred other extracurriculars on top of the intense homework load. He thought he could sleep in every day when he chose all of those afternoon classes, and stay up all night to procrastinate on homework and just go on his phone.

But _no_ , he’s stuck here at night, going to some magic college that was supposed to teach him how to control his natural powers. If only he had manifested those powers earlier, he wouldn’t have to be here at all. He’d have gone to some elementary magic school as a child, and headed off to college without a single care in the world about his magic. 

The timer rings, and Professor Taeyong walks over to shut it off. “Alright, students, let’s take a look at what you have.”

The professor steps by with his hands clasped behind his back, surveying each of the potions, occasionally leaning forward to take a closer look at each cauldron. Donghyuck can feel his heart pounding harder in his chest as he makes his way closer. His potion is somehow an electric blue now, energy particles zapping along the surface, and Donghyuck’s about ready to pass out when Professor Taeyong passes his cauldron with a neutral face.

“I’d have to say, I’m rather disappointed in today’s work, considering how this is one of the basics.”

Donghyuck feels as if his head were compressing and collapsing in on itself, from stress or sleepless nights, he can’t really tell at this point.

“It’s simply reading the directions and following your intuition, not matching a _picture_ that I never said was the potion.” Professor Taeyong snaps his fingers, and the taped photos on each of their textbooks fly to his desk, forming a neat stack in an instant. “Donghyuck is seemingly the only one who got it right.”

Donghyuck quickly looks between his blue potion and the picture, finding it a near-perfect match. He can’t even find it in himself to be relieved at this point.

Professor Taeyong walks over and ladles some of his potion into a glass bottle, then pockets it. “Good job, Donghyuck. Everyone else, I expect more. Class dismissed.”

  
  
  


Mark always knows exactly what makes Donghyuck feel better on a rainy day.

On a Saturday afternoon, Mark props himself against the doorway of Donghyuck’s room, arms crossed, the bags under his eyes slightly lighter than usual after sleeping in that morning. He’s already in jeans and a hoodie, whereas Donghyuck is still sprawled on his back in his bed, phone on the verge of falling through his fingers and onto his face, still dressed in the bear onesie he spontaneously put on the night before just to relieve stress.

The phone did end up falling on Donghyuck’s face. He wouldn’t have even noticed Mark at the door if he didn’t hear his chuckle in response to Donghyuck’s whine. 

“Don’t be mean!” Donghyuck rolls onto his back, head hanging over the edge of the bed, peering at Mark upside down. “What do you want?”

“It’s Saturday. Let’s go out.”

“ _It’s Saturday, let’s go out_ ,” Donghyuck mimics, pulling a grimace. He grabs the pillow next to him and smashes it directly into his face.

He doesn’t know what this feeling is. From not really have anything to do, for the first time in his life, yet not wanting to spend this spare time the best he can. There’s no innate motivation that makes him want to move at all. He just wants to lay down and waste his days away.

But Mark and him rarely go on dates anymore, with Mark’s intense schooling schedule as an engineering major, and Donghyuck’s own best-of-both-worlds lifestyle. It leaves the two of them drained, and hardly able to see each other besides the few minutes they designate to cuddling every day. 

So Donghyuck slowly rolls himself off the bed and onto the ground in a heap, letting his boyfriend laugh at him again. 

“If you don’t wanna go out, we can order in or something. It’s rainy outside anyways,” Mark says, but Donghyuck sees the guitar case perched on the hallway wall behind him, and soon, he’s grabbing at his closet, looking for a pair of washed jeans.

“We’re going.”

The smile that blooms on Mark’s face is much more magical than any potion Donghyuck could possibly brew.

  
  
  


Donghyuck offers to hold the umbrella on the walk to the coffee shop on campus, the place they’ve spent a majority of their dates and money on. They always take the same booth, the one on the side, where, with an easy turn of the head, they can watch the mini-stage set apart for the performer of the day.

That’s how Donghyuck first met Mark, who was just singing along with his classmate, Xiaojun, both with matching guitars and voices that blend. That’s how Donghyuck and Mark spent their first date, sitting across from each other in their booth, Mark sipping on his Americano, and Donghyuck on his daisy tea. 

The coffee shop holds something quite deep in their relationship. But such a sweet beginning comes at the price of Na Jaemin.

Jaemin has always worked the cashier spot, and always, somehow, manages to work when Mark and Donghyuck go in. Each time Jaemin says it’s a coincidence, but each time, it gets creepier and creepier. If Mark hadn’t been friends with him since high school, Donghyuck may have just bailed completely after the fourth time Jaemin served them in a row.

Donghyuck slides into his side of the booth, lacing his fingers over the wood grain tabletop. “Did they book you in again?”

Mark, caught off guard for a moment, looks at Donghyuck sheepishly. “Yeah…”

“You could have just told me. I would have come.”

“I would prefer to have dragged you on a date rather than another gig.”

Donghyuck laughs. “I guess you’re right.”

“Well, hello, my favorite lovebirds!” Jaemin skips over and slaps his hands on the table, leaning forward. His eyes quickly shift between the two of them. “Ready for another open mic? People are excited for their favorite duo!”

Donghyuck looks around the shop for a moment, then blinks. “There’s like, one other person here.”

“Well, you know how it is.” Jaemin flings a hand around nonchalantly. “It’s a Saturday afternoon. Not a lot of people need coffee yet.”

“I don’t think that’s right—”

“Oh, sure it is. College students are unpredictable,” Jaemin says, though Donghyuck doesn’t really believe a word.

“The show must go on, though,” Mark announces, scooting out of the booth, grabbing his guitar. “We’ll take the regular, afterwards.”

Jaemin takes a few steps backward towards his spot behind the counter. “Got it. Can’t wait for your performance! Good luck!”

And he waves, as if he won’t be literally thirty feet away the entire time.

Mark unzips his case and pulls out his most prized possession. (Even more loved than his expensive engineering textbook, mind you.) Its dark rosewood body and polished finish have slowly worn away over the years, but it’s just as beautiful, the notes it makes. Donghyuck remembers fawning at it when he first saw Mark play the instrument; he had never seen a guitar with quite as much elegance before.

The two take their seats on the stools, one microphone on the stand directed at the guitar, the other in Donghyuck’s hand. They don’t even have to look at each other to know what song they would be playing.

Mark strums the familiar chords of “Billionaire,” probably for the hundredth time, but it never gets old, at least for Donghyuck. It’s his favorite, because it lets Donghyuck sing much softer compared to his usual Beyonce-style belting, and watching Mark rap along to the rhythm his knuckles tap on his guitar makes Donghyuck’s heart jump. 

The two catch each other’s eyes, and Donghyuck can’t help the grin that finds its way onto his face. He twirls his finger into the microphone wire as he sings, Mark harmonizing and adding adlibs here and there, and Donghyuck just savors the way they sound when they sing together. 

How in the world did he manage to get himself the most perfect boyfriend?

  
  
  


“Donghyuck, why don’t you ever take us out to the human world? It’s like we only know about half of your life,” Yangyang whines, biting into his— actually, Donghyuck can’t tell quite what it is, he’s not too acquainted with the magic world’s cuisine.

It’s their one break for the night, between his eight pm lecture and the eleven pm one, Donghyuck’s most dreaded class of Spells, at an extremely impractical hour. He’s nearly a hundred percent sure he’s going to fall asleep again, and his professor is sure not to let him off about it again.

Yukhei nods along to Yangyang’s comment. “I would really like to explore the other side of town. Oh! You can take us on a tour through your human college campus!”

Donghyuck lays his head on his arms, a pillow to combat the cold table. “It’s a private school. They’re really picky about visitors.”

“Well, then you can take us to your favorite human restaurant!”

“I—” Donghyuck can’t resist Yangyang and Yukhei’s matching, pleading face, like that of a sad puppy. “Fine. After finals, maybe.”

The two of them high-five as if that was the most difficult task they actually managed to accomplish. 

Renjun sighs. “These idiots…”

At that, the Professor walks in, his stack of leather-bound books stacked high against his chest. There’s a giant smile on his face, like always, as if teaching a lecture hall full of teenagers and young adults at night brings him the greatest pleasure. But Donghyuck knows that his Professor is just a dork who can’t stand when anyone calls him Mr. Seo and only lets the class refer to him as Johnny.

It’s awkward, to say the least. 

Donghyuck pulls out his phone to silence it again, after checking it multiple times for Mark’s update on a big physics exam he’s taking. Still no reply at eleven pm, and Donghyuck assumes that he’s probably out with his friends to celebrate instead.

“Hyuck, when will you let me use your phone thingy?” Yangyang asks, reaching for the small device under the desk like a baby trying to grab a rattle. 

“Later, Yangs,” Donghyuck says, eyes still glued to the messages, waiting for that text bubble with three rendering dots to show up, to dim his worries for a moment. “I’m busy.”

“With Mark the Boyfriend?” Yukhei says, loud, causing a few other students to turn slightly towards the commotion.

“Shut it,” Renjun says, as Mr. Seo— Johnny sends the stack of papers flying to each student, probably filled with today’s instruction for spells.

Donghyuck finds it hard to focus on the magic, hard to center himself and hone the growing energy that’s always been inside him. He’s always needed complete focus to manage to cast anything, but with his mind half on where Mark is, the other half on the midterm on organic chemistry he has in a few days, he can’t seem to cast even the simplest of spells. 

Even Renjun notices Donghyuck’s sour mood, and he sends a small note written in a paper plane to Donghyuck, letting it float to him with a trail of shimmer behind it.

Donghyuck looks at the note. But honestly, there’s nothing wrong, besides a hint of worry, there shouldn’t be a reason why he can’t even cast a spell to send the note back. So he just nods a couple times and smiles at Renjun, and that’s that.

  
  


It reaches one am, and Donghyuck is about to pass out at this point. He’s given up completely on the lesson, letting the sheet of paper Johnny passed out earlier disappear under a pile of chemistry homework. He’s tempted to pull out his laptop, just so he can get more work done, but that would only spike Yangyang and Yukhei’s curiosity more, asking how that thin square manages to know everything about the entire world.

He’s about to fall asleep against his arm when his phone lights up on his lap, a notification rising to the top. Mark.

_From Mark:_

Huckles

When will u b homee

Want cuddles >:((

Donghyuck laughs to himself. 

_To Mark:_

Lecture’s almost over

Be back soon

_From Mark:_

How soon

I DEMAND CUDDLES

>>:((

That’s enough to pull Donghyuck out of his stupor, his worry, because the moment his class is dismissed, he stuffs all of his work into his backpack, leaving his friends in the dust, as he practically sprints home. He’s sure there’s some sort of charm that could teleport him there, but he can’t quite remember at the moment.

“Mark?” he calls out as he opens the door.

The apartment is no different, except Mark is lying on the couch with a forearm thrown over his forehead. There’s a plush blanket slung over him, but his legs still peek out from the bottom.

Donghyuck goes to lift Mark’s head up and prop it on his own lap when he sits. “You alright?”

“Stressed. I need cuddles.”

Donghyuck laughs, running his fingers through Mark’s blonde strands. He presses his thumb along his temples, to relieve the tension there. He’s done this so many times it’s like second nature.

Mark hums in response, curling into himself, allowing space for Donghyuck to pull his legs up onto the couch.

“You feeling alright?” Donghyuck asks.

“Better.”

The two lie in silence, just Donghyuck massaging Mark’s head. 

It constantly makes Donghyuck nervous when he comes home to Mark sleeping on the couch. He knows how heavy Mark’s academics have gotten, now that he’s a candidate for his professor’s internship. Mark always works hard, but sometimes he doesn’t know when to stop for his own good.

“Hyuck,” Mark starts, cracking his eyes open for a moment, before furrowing his eyebrows. “Are _you_ alright?”

Donghyuck scoffs, sarcastic. “Of course. I’m doing fine.”

“I feel bad for never checking up on you like you do for me.” Mark avoids Donghyuck’s eyes by playing with the end of his jacket zipper. “I feel like we barely have time anymore.”

 _They don’t,_ Donghyuck thinks. And it’s hardly Mark’s fault, it’s completely Donghyuck. If he hadn’t let his parents pressure him into taking extra classes at the Academy, if he had chosen to parallel Mark’s schedule, _if he hadn’t been born half-wizard_ , things would be different. Easier. Better.

“Oh, Mark.” Donghyuck moves his hand down, stroking Mark’s cheek with his thumb. He leaves little glimmers of gold on the cheekbone, from practicing spells for his quiz a few days later. “I’m sorry.”

“I just wish you could be home at night. And I could have classes in the afternoon,” Mark mumbles sleepily. “So we can sleep in together. Cuddle in the morning like normal boyfriends.”

Donghyuck feels something in his chest constrict, tightening at every drowsy confession. He sniffles and pouts, though Mark’s eyes have been closed the whole time. “Rest, Mark.”

Sleep drags Donghyuck down just as quick as it does to Mark.

  
  
  


Donghyuck was on a _date_ , which is supposed to constitute of him and Mark sitting at their regular booth, a coffee and tea in front of them, and Donghyuck refusing to kiss Mark because of the lingering espresso on his lips. (Coffee is absolutely vulgar, in Donghyuck’s opinion, but it’s Mark, who needs it by default, so he’ll let it pass). By definition, that’s what a date is.

But he finds Jaemin not far, as always, rubbing a mug for the millionth time with a dirty towel, and then Yukhei and Yangyang come barging through the glass door, and Donghyuck’s about to throw his cup across the room.

He tries to ignore all of them, and focus on his hands in Mark’s, fingers tangled together on top of the table, but he accidentally catches Yukhei’s eyes across the room, and—

“Donghyuck! Funny to see you here!” Yukhei calls out, much louder than Donghyuck anticipated.

It causes Mark to turn his head, and Donghyuck really wants to take a finger and tip Mark’s head right back to face him instead. This is going to be a disaster. Maybe he can just pretend he didn’t hear Yukhei?

The two are bounding towards the booth at full speed. Dammit.

“Please just ignore them, they’re friends from school,” Donghyuck whispers to Mark, before facing the two with a pained smile. “Hey Yukhei, Yangyang.”

The two slide into the booth, Yukhei by Donghyuck, Yangyang by Mark, and Donghyuck is really about to give those two a stern beating at Mr. Qian’s lecture tomorrow.

“How did you two even manage to get here?” Donghyuck hisses, but really, there’s the underlying question of _How did you two manage to get into the human world?_

“Not too difficult, just a bit of asking around and we got out!” Yangyang says. He reaches for Donghyuck’s cup and takes a whiff of its contents. “What’s this?”

“It’s tea, Yangs. Don’t take my stuff.” Donghyuck grabs the cup back and protects it between his hands, forming a wall around it with his palms.

Yukhei flashes a smile at Mark, leaving his hand out for the other to shake it. “Hi! Are you Mark the Boyfriend?”

“Uh—” Mark’s eyes shift hesitantly to Donghyuck. “Yes?”

“You don’t seem too sure, Hyuck, this is Mark right?”

Donghyuck sighs. “Yes, this is Mark.”

Mark offers a little wave, but his hands fly to his own cup of coffee when Yangyang leans over to peer at its contents.

“Anyways, Hyuck, we were wondering if you would take us around the area, be our tour guide! We won’t be able to come out here too often,” Yukhei explains.

“I’m kinda busy right now, maybe later?” Donghyuck says. His half-drunken tea and the whole presence of Mark holds him back from being the good friend he should be. This is the one in few times he gets to go out on a date. He’s not just going to give it up when his wizard friends come sauntering in without notice—

Yangyang pouts, bottom lip sticking out and eyes wide. “Renjun’s already outside waiting for us…”

Donghyuck only huffs as he places a couple bills for tip on the table.

  
  
  


They’re at the mall, of all places, but Donghyuck finds that it’s the perfect place to give the all-in-one tour; there’s food, electronics, and bath bombs, the three things Donghyuck’s friends are most curious about.

Donghyuck first buys them each burger from McDonald's, which Yukhei scarfs down with delight. Renjun seems to pick through the lettuce and tomato and wince at its vibrant colors. But considering the galaxy-colored caffeinated drink he always brings to the nine pm lecture, he shouldn’t be so picky.

They head down the walkway to find the glass walls of an Apple store.

“Do they sell apples here or something?” Yangyang asks, staring at the metal sign above with the bitten fruit. “Those are some oddly shaped apples…”

“Uh, no, those are cell phones,” Mark mutters under his breath, eyebrows knitted. 

One of the sales associates makes their way towards them, and Donghyuck is about this close to just guiding the entire group away, but the familiar smile catches his eyes and he can’t move.

“Hello, how may I help you today— Oh hey, Mark!” Jeno says. He glances at the group. “Hyuck, haven’t seen you in forever! And…”

“This is Yukhei, Yangyang, and Renjun.” The three wave respectively. “They’re my cousins. From out of the country.” Donghyuck puts a grin on, despite the pain underneath.

“Huh. Nice to meet you guys. Were you interested in some of our products today? The new iPhone X just came in today, I just set it up actually! Come, follow me…” Jeno trails off, easily leading the mesmerized Yukhei and Yangyang away, with a slightly reluctant Renjun tagging behind.

Donghyuck subtly takes Mark’s hand to drag him off to the opposite side of the store, where they aimlessly glance over the Apple Watch displays. Mark winces when he looks at the four-figure numbers displayed next to the tiny iPhones.

“Hyuck, where are your friends from? Really?”

Donghyuck freezes, pulling back to find Mark’s confused face. “What?”

“They’re either from Antarctica or are aliens. I’ve never seen a group of people so clueless about… _the world_.”

“Oh. That.”

How the hell is Donghyuck supposed to explain to his boyfriend that there’s a whole half of Seoul that he’s not supposed to know about, but is right here in front of his eyes? It’s against every code Donghyuck had set for himself, every rule he’s imposed when he started attending the magic school, to expose Mark to this other world. 

“They’re just… from a very rural part of China. No McDonald’s, no iPhones. Not everyone is as privileged as us.” Donghyuck laughs nervously after, and just squeezes Mark’s hand. When Mark’s confusion melts away, it calms Donghyuck’s beating heart just a tiny bit. 

Behind the two of them, a watch sparks, the tiny knob on its side falling right out of the body of the watch. 

Donghyuck blinks at it. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” He pushes Mark down the aisle towards where Jeno is demonstrating how to play Cut the Rope to the other three.

His nerves must be going haywire to cause something to spark. Donghyuck’s never been great at separating his emotions from his magic.

Jeno steps back to let the three tap at each of the phones on display. “Hey, Donghyuck, how have you been?” He smiles brightly at them, despite the amount of trouble he had just gone through trying to teach the wizards how to take a screenshot.

“Could be better. Midterms are painful, as always.”

“Must be.”

They go silent, but Mark’s hand is still on Donghyuck’s, thumb rubbing circles into the back of his hand. It helps, slightly, but not enough, when he suddenly realizes that there’s a stack of homework waiting for him back home, because Professor Qian can’t seem to make his students suffer enough through memorizing stupid healing herbs. He hears the cracking of glass behind him, which causes Donghyuck nearly to jump.

“Uh, well, nice to see you again, Jeno! We gotta go!” Donghyuck sprints over to push his three friends away from the displays and towards the door. 

There’s one more snap as they all exit, and an exasperated groan that’s likely, most probably, Jeno’s.

  
  
  


Yangyang notices the bright colors and intense smell of artificial oranges first, and immediately follows it. Donghyuck doesn’t think that kind of mentality particularly safe when it comes to the city streets, but in the end, he finds himself in a Lush store, so he lets it go. 

They all go sniffing different lotions, Renjun actually being far more enthusiastic for once as he’s grown up in a potion ingredient shop filled with similar, albeit much more natural, aromas.

Donghyuck goes to pick up a purple bath bomb, the shape of a shimmering pink rose peeking out of the middle.

“Oh my god, Hyuck what is this?”

Yukhei sidles up next to him with a colorful square in hand. One of the corners seemed to have fallen off after some picking, the scraps left in Yukhei’s other palm.

“Soap.” Donghyuck leads him over to the sink, where he turns on the water and rubs the squared to reveal blue foam. 

“Woah.” Yukhei, damn his height, reaches right over Donghyuck’s head to take the soap, trapping Donghyuck’s head between his arms. Yukhei has always had no sense of personal space, but it still frightens Donghyuck, and the sink sputters a couple of times. He ducks to leave Yukhei’s wonder to himself. Instead, he sees a brooding Mark. 

It makes him laugh a little. Jealous Mark is a new sight for him.

He throws his arms around Mark’s neck. “Don’t be like that. He’s just spatially unaware.”

“Better be.”

Donghyuck tilts his head up to kiss Mark’s cheek. Out of the corner of his eye, Yangyang places a blue bath bomb on the tip of his tongue. The bath bomb in Renjun’s hand promptly explodes into a thousand sand particles. 

“Dear God, help me,” Donghyuck mutters, sighing into Mark’s shoulder. He gives Mark a wary smile and heads over to save the two disasters. 

Two more bath bomb explosions, a plastic case set on fire, and lots of tongue washing later, the group manages to leave Lush, but there’s a dent in Donghyuck’s wallet that he forces Yangyang to refill in food instead. 

  
  


It’s three am by the time Donghyuck stumbles home from a long study session in the Academy’s twenty-four-hour library, and as he peels off his jacket and shoes at the doorway, he doesn’t expect the kitchen lights to be on.

“Mark?”

Mark looks just as tired as Donghyuck probably does, with purple eyebags and a mess of hair that hasn’t been properly groomed since the semester started. He holds a mug close to his body, leaning against the counter and blowing at the surface of the warm drink.

Donghyuck inches to the kitchen too, grabbing for a clean glass to get some water.

“What are you doing up?”

Mark hums. “I have a quiz to study for. Where were you?”

“The library.”

“I really doubt there’s a library open at three am.”

Donghyuck blinks, taking a sip of the cold water. It clears his head for a short moment, but he feels his face burning. “There’s a twenty-four-hour library I go to—”

“You can’t study at home at night? I hardly think it’s safe to be walking home at this time of hour.” Mark puts his empty mug into the sink with a thud. “Tell me, Donghyuck. The truth this time.”

“It’s _true_. Mark, you know I have other things—”

Mark pushes off the counter, pacing along the tile, and Donghyuck knows that Mark never talks with those dramatic arm motions unless he’s pissed. “And you never tell me what it is! What am I supposed to think? You go off somewhere every night claiming to do school work, or working a part-time job, and then never tell me what it is. Then I see you getting close to another guy that I’ve never met before.”

“Mark—”

“I’m not mad, I just want to know, Donghyuck. And maybe I’ll get mad if it turns out to be _that_ but I just need you to be honest.” He settles back against the counter, hands braced on the edge, looking so much smaller than before. “I don’t care if you’re going out to buy illegal drugs at night, or if you’re in a mafia, or anything! You can trust me.”

Donghyuck can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of Mark’s thoughts. 

“I promise you,” Donghyuck manages through giggles, “that it’s none of those.”

“Then—”

“I go to school. Another school.” Donghyuck watches the way Mark’s eyes seem to dim when Donghyuck doesn’t go into further detail. 

So what, what if Mark knows about the other half of Donghyuck’s ancestry? The two sides aren’t meant to mix, yes, but the reason Donghyuck was even alive was because a magical father managed to meet and love a human mother. There’s no reason for him to keep this side of him to himself, besides maybe endangering the whole magical community. But it’s Mark. Awkward, overworked, engineering major Mark who uses his 200 dollar textbook as his only defense mechanism, who would never do a thing that could possibly hurt Donghyuck. 

His Mark.

He takes a deep breath before launching into an explanation. “Magic school. Seoul’s Academy of Magic. I’ve been attending for the past year or so to learn to control the wizard half of me.”

Mark’s eyes light up with curiosity, then shifts to confusion. “You have magic?”

“Sucky magic, but magic nonetheless.” Donghyuck snaps his fingers to turn on the faucet, letting the water run into the dirty mug. He snaps again, but the water only runs faster, splashing as it hits the edge of the sink. He reaches over quickly to shut the faucet manually. “See?”

“Oh. _Wow._ ” Mark blinks a few more times. “You’re kind of obligated to tell me everything.”

“I will I just—” Donghyuck can’t stop the yawn from escaping him. “Maybe at a more decent hour?”

Mark smiles, and takes ahold of Donghyuck’s fingers, gently pulling him towards their room. “Anytime will do, Hyuck. Let’s get some rest.”

Donghyuck doesn’t need magic, really, but there’s a part of him, a gut feeling pulling at his chest, that he knows is an instinct that only exists because he’s part wizard, and that instinct has always pointed him towards Mark, in a curling, shimmering, invisible arrow. To love him, is what it tells him. To hold on to a boy made perfectly for him.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/johnshuaa)  
> [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/johnshuaa)


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